Maybe the best I could do is share a story of a college friend of mine whose ambition from the beginning was to start his own company. This was in the late 1980

Maybe the best I could do is share a story of a college friend of mine whose ambition from the beginning was to start his own company. This was in the late 1980's - early '90's before it was every programmer's default dream -- still something of a rarity. He was strictly middle class from a small town with no financial/family advantages. He chose an area that he thought was ripe for innovation (computer networking) and got a job at a company he thought was at the cutting edge. He was up front at all times that his ambition was to learn all he could then strike out on his own. While there, he started a program where the company's engineers gave seminars or presentations to one another on topics of interest. This helped establish him as a leader even though he was not management. He eventually identified a market niche that was unserved by his company or anyone else. He left with the company's blessing and started his own company with friends and fellow alumni, with seed funding from the companies he had identified as needing the product he aimed to develop. He profitably developed the product, which was made easier by the loyalty he earned from his engineers due to his leadership qualities. From there he replicated the pattern on larger scales, identifying market needs and pitching solutions to companies in exchange for funding. This was before VC funding was the norm. He semi-retired young and went into the non-profit world to try to help solve wider social problems. I hope you can get something valuable from this brief anecdote. I think the key is to prove your value to employers/investors and demonstrate leadership before expecting things of others.